Dwyane Wade struggles as Miami Heat collapses against Indiana Pacers - MiamiHerald.com

Here’s the anatomy of a postseason meltdown:

• For the first time in his career, Dwyane Wade didn’t score in the first half.

• He then screamed an expletive into his coach’s face during a third-quarter timeout.

• The Heat then scored 12 points in first 12 minutes of the second half.

“It was a good old-fashioned butt kicking from there,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

With Wade completely checked out of the game mentally by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, LeBron James and the rest of the Heat was helpless against a Pacers team riding the power surge of its first second-round home playoff game since 2005. In as shocking a result as these 2012 NBA playoffs has produced, Miami lost to the Pacers 94-75 on Thursday in Game 3 of a now-fascinating Eastern Conference semifinals series.

The Pacers lead the best-of-7 series 2-1 with a pivotal Game 4 coming Sunday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Painted in a sea of mustard-gold T-shirts, the arena was a screaming exposed nerve from the opening tipoff. It was an electrifying atmosphere, especially compared with the first two games of the series. Fans stood and cheered â€" and that was during timeouts. The Pacers responded to the intensity and, with Wade playing historically bad, the Heat simply couldn’t keep up.

Wade was 2 of 13 from the field with five points. He started the game 1 of 10 and scored his first basket with 10:22 left in the game.

“He’s too good a player to have shooting nights like he had [Thursday night],” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of Wade.

Wade, Shane Battier and Dexter Pittman combined to go 2 of 22 from the floor. The rest of the Heat was 27 of 56 for 48.2 percent. In a watershed game individually, Mario Chalmers led the Heat in scoring with 25 points. He was 10-of-15 shooting and helped carry the team in the first half when Wade couldn’t find the rim.

The game was tied at halftime despite Wade’s struggles. At the time, Spoelstra felt his team was in a good position considering the circumstances. Then, for the second game in a row, the Heat collapsed in the third quarter.

In Game 2, Miami scored 14 points in the third quarter. Somehow, the Heat was worse on Thursday. The Heat was 4 of 17 from the field in the third period and 1 of 9 from three-point range. James and Wade combined for four points and the Pacers out-rebounded Miami 15-6.

“We came out with a very flat, inefficient third quarter and it snowballed from there,” Spoelstra said. “When we had open looks we couldn’t know them down.”

Spoelstra downplayed the confrontation with Wade, calling it normal behavior. Wade refused to talk about the incident.

“That happens,” Spoelstra said. “Anyone who hasn’t been a part of a team, you don’t know how often that happens. It’s the good, the bad and everything in between.”

Tuesday was just bad.

The Heat shot 37.2 percent as a team in its second straight game without Chris Bosh, the Heat’s All-Star power forward who strained an abdominal muscle in Game 1. In a fit of panic, Spoelstra started little-used center Dexter Pittman in Game 3 and then yanked him from the game in the first four minutes.

Battier also started, which pushed Ronny Turiaf and Udonis Haslem to the bench. Battier responded by going 0 of 7 from the field and 0 of 6 from three-point range. He is 1 of 12 in the series.

“The guys who have been in the playoffs know this is a series,’’ Battier said. "We can play better, that’s just a matter of fact. We know if we bring a better effort in Game 4 we have to chance to even the series.

“It’s all about perspective. But we know we have to play better than this.”